Michael's space

• The Change in Job:  I went from being on the hot seat for the manager's position at OfficeMax to being asked to become the Youth & Education pastor at a church in Harrisonville (Antioch SBC).  This happened in August with the official changeover occurring the first of September. As a result of this, Tonya resigned from Children's Place and is working as a teacher for a church-run day care program. 
• The Move to Facebook:  I must admit, I had never really done much of anything on any social sites.  But, the youth group had such a site through Facebook so I created a fresh site and have very busy keeping it up and running.  I have found Facebook to be a very useful tool in keeping track of students (and even some parents and adults in the church) and their friends.  It makes it easy to advertise events and study sessions, too, with a click of a mouse.  At last look my "friends" count was over 250.
• Getting back in the Swing of Ministry:  Antioch is such a unique ministry for our entire family.  The uniqueness of the makeup and purpose of this church places it at the top in strong potential for success.  Coming from previous experiences where each and every Sunday, Wednesday, and whatever other day you could get, was maxed out - making nearly each day a struggle for balance and sanity.  Under the leadership of Pastor Ernie and the Elders (that's another plus), Antioch's pursuit of purpose and simplicity is preventing it from strangling the life out of the young families that populate the church family.  The emphasis on family has led Antioch to only have Sunday School and morning worship on Sunday's - leaving the remaining day for families to regenerate for a new week.  This is a much welcomed change from previous experiences.  Our Wednesday evening programs is the only other structured time for continued Christian education. 
  This time is so strong that it nearly reaches the same strength in numbers as seen on Sunday's.  The biggest difference is the use of home-based small groups during the Wednesday evening offerings.  While the adults are in their small groups, the kids are enjoying Mission Friends, TeamKID and PULSE (Youth) at the church facilities.

Overall the last (nearly) seven months have been a breath of fresh air for us all.  It has been nearly three years since stepping out of youth ministry and the time away has given a rejuvenation needed to hope right back in to the saddle.  Hopefully I will be a little more focused so I can continue to drop some notes here for everyone to see how things are going in our family...maybe :)

You hear it on the tv or radio about people hitting deer with their cars.  I’ve even heard the bad stories of people getting seriously injured.  Well, minus the injury, Tonya did just that last night.  She hit a deer on her way back from Blue Springs last night.  I will add pics and more details a little later…..

Here is the link to the pictures of the van.. Sorry, no pics of the deer.

I could say "we're settled in," but it really all Tonya.  She has done an AWESOME job getting the house together.  Though I've painstakingly helped with the painting, she's done the vast portion of making the house livable.  She loves the hardwood floors in both the living room and master bedroom.  Things should calm down a little for me to take some pictures and video to post next week. 

With the pending move, there will be about an weeks break from the blogging until we can get all settled in.  Tonya and the kids will be going down to Harrisonville tomorrow (Saturday) to put the finishing touches on the painting and such.  We are still not for sure, but we may just sleep over (we have an air mattress and sleeping bags) so we can as much as we can done before Monday.  I will probably just come down after I get off work on Saturday.

The final touches have been done for the kids and their schools.  Austin had his records received yesterday and we got his schedule today.  They didn't appear to have all the info on Thursday evening (meet-the-teacher night) so that worried Tonya.  Now, that is all done!

As the day approaches, I am getting more and more excited about moving and being on staff at Antioch.  The opportunities are endless and there is much anticipation for the blessings that are ahead.  I can't begin to tell you just how excited Tonya is about this.  Even the issue with the pain has not squelched her enthusiasm.

Right now the house is in a mess with boxes everywhere, but that will soon change.  Our home Internet service won't be up and running until the 8th, so don't expect too much until then.  I will be checking my email and you can either send us a note vial US Mail or call us on our cell phones.

She will be undergoing some tests (Sonogram & Mammogram) today (Thursday).  The CT is concerning some abdomen pains she's been having.  They think it may be related to a hernia surgery she had a little while back.  Maybe the mesh has come loose.  Not for sure on that.  But, the pain is bad enough for her to complain.  Look, she has given birth to four kids with no meds, so it this hurts it must really hurt.  The mammogram is in response to some pain and a later lump she noticed about a week or so ago. 

Her tests begin at 9 am.

UPDATE:  The mammogram came back negative.  Still waiting on the Sonogram results.